Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Tabitha
Jagged gravel crunched beneath Tabitha’s soles as she and Lark followed Zac through the narrow parking area.
Before leaving the office last week, Claudia had encouraged her to raid the gear closet to see if anything would be useful.
Fortunately for her, a pair of lightly tested approach shoes fit her perfectly and were the only thing she didn’t already have for the trip.
Sneakers would have been fine, but not knowing where Zac would lead them had her grateful for the offer.
He rattled off a few boulders and routes they’d be visiting, but none of them rang much of a bell for Tabitha. She breathed out a chuckle and shook her head, finding humor in how much she’d traveled the world for climbing, yet barely scratched the surface of her own home state.
A gentle breeze whistled past as a large red footbridge came into view.
Built from the bottom half of a massive culvert pipe supported by rusty steel trellises, the crossing looked like it was meant for a train more than foot traffic.
It spanned across a shallow section of the Wenatchee River.
A couple of families played at the water’s edge.
The squeals of laughter coming from the small children splashing around brought a smile to Tabitha’s face.
“This bridge is so rad,” Lark gushed as her trigger finger worked furiously. “And with the morning light barely peeking over the ridgeline, it’s casting such fascinating shadows.”
Zac paused on the other side of the crossing and chuckled. “This is the Penstock Trail, or the Old Pipeline Trail. Used to be a water pipe that delivered water to a powerhouse that’s long gone now.”
“Look at all the colors and designs,” the photographer whispered with reverence then knelt down, capturing shots of the vibrant graffiti tags inside the halved pipe. Tabitha smiled at Lark’s enthusiasm. The woman was the very definition of glass-half-full. The polar opposite of Tabitha.
Her smile faltered as she looked up from her crouched friend and caught the intent stare of their climbing guide.
Zac’s warm brown eyes captured hers. Held hers.
Like he was trying to convey something of the utmost importance.
A tremble tingled down Tabitha’s spine as she recalled what those eyes had seen.
Her.
All of her.
Zac had been a lights-on kind of guy, so he’d seen every bit of her from head to toe and back again. Tabitha wondered if he was still so visually focused. Something in the intensity of his gaze confirmed it.
“Oh, that’s a good one,” Lark cooed. She stood, severing the eye contact between Tabitha and Zac, and fiddled with a particular image she’d captured.
“Let me see,” Tabitha croaked, attempting to distract herself from the staring contest. She cupped her hand around the screen to block the sun and see the image. Of her. Gazing with a wild vulnerability on her face. Tabitha’s eyes widened, which Lark caught and mistook for awe.
“If you like that, you’ll love this one, babe.”
She shouldn’t look, but curiosity won out as Lark tilted the camera back to her. This one was of Zac, standing on the opposite side of the bridge, with the same intense look they’d exchanged a moment before. An instinctual offense crept up, but Tabitha chuckled and shook her head.
“You’re diabolical,” she murmured, brushing past and closing the gap between them and their guide.
“I just wanted you to know that I see you,” she said while securing her camera and lens back in her crossbody bag.
“Everything all right?” Zac asked as Tabitha reached him.
“Yes. What are we doing first?”
He beamed and explained, “First we are going to warm up at a boulder cleverly named ‘warmup boulder’.”
“To dust the cobwebs off?”
“Exactly. Then we’ll hit a couple of super popular routes in this area; nothing too tricky. Second half of the day we’ll be at Forestland. Does that all work for you?” His thick brows rose in question while those brown eyes scanned. She could tell it was important to him that this went well.
Something they had in common.
“Sounds great.”
A puff of dust plumed at the edge of a large granite boulder, where Zac tossed the crash pads.
He eyed the rockface then repositioned the dense pads to create the perfect landing spots.
Tabitha watched him consider potential fall trajectories as though she were about to climb a gnarly route instead of something to warm up on.
She tuned in to her bizarre almost-absence of fear for the day's itinerary.
Yesterday had been nerve wracking, at least until she completed her first outdoor lead in three years.
Then she'd felt exhilaration. But this morning hadn't sparked as much anxiety.
Probably because bouldering wasn't what broke her femur.
She took a gulp of water and refocused her attentions on Zac as he fiddled with the crash pad.
“I think that’ll be good enough,” Tabitha teased. “Though I have to say I appreciate your approach to safety.”
Zac glanced over his shoulder with a cheeky grin and cocked a brow that could drop panties. It’d made her drop hers a time or ten if she recalled.
“Precious cargo.” His voice sounded extra gravely. Full to the brim with seductive rasp and dual meaning.
Heat gathered at Tabitha’s shoulders and climbed her neck. She gave a brief thanks to her genetics for not being someone who blushed easily—or at all, really. Another weapon in her arsenal meant to keep others at arm’s length. She took another quick drink from her thermos of ice water to cool down.
“Hot already, tab-tab?” Zac groused. “Isn’t even nine yet.”
That asinine nickname did the trick. She chuffed at his tease and brushed past him onto the crash pads. Securing her straight, red hair into a jaunty ponytail, she scanned the rock face to determine the right route.
“There’re a few routes here; they all go vertical. No veering. One right after another,” Zac offered with a clearer voice as if he suddenly remembered his purpose on this particular outing.
“Sounds pretty straightforward.” Tabitha chalked her hands and approached the boulder.
She couldn’t tell if it was the dip in the crash pad behind her or the body heat that alerted her to her climbing guide’s nearness first. She had to remind herself that he was preparing to catch her if she fell.
Still, the warm breath on her neck was doing crazy things to her lower belly.
“You gonna get on that rock or stare at the veins running through it?”
Tabitha huffed an agitated breath and found her starting position.
Hand over hand, foot over foot, she slithered her way up until she stood atop the boulder.
After climbing down the backside, she came back around to where Zac stood.
A smile beamed across her face so intensely that even the rapid clicks of Lark’s camera couldn’t dim it.
“Good?” Zac asked, wearing his own joyous grin.
“Great.” She moved to the start of the next route and scurried to the top with just as much ease.
“Ready to level up and head to the next spot?” Zac asked after Tabitha breezed up the third and final route of the boulder.
Tabitha nodded and sat to remove her shoes and gather the rest of her things.
“You made that look effortless,” Lark complimented.
“Wanna give it a go before I pack up, blondie?” Zac asked, hesitating near the crash pads. “No better spot for a newbie to learn than this.”
“Super, mega, hard pass. But thanks for the offer. I’d much rather keep my feet firmly planted on the ground unless there are rope and anchors involved.”
“Chicken?” The tease popped out of Tabitha’s mouth before she could stop herself.
“Oh-ho,” Lark chuckled. “Look at you with the teasing peer pressure. I’m shocked.”
“Sorry, I—”
“No, no. I’ll do it. But that means you have to do something that scares you too.” Lark sauntered over and stopped beside her friend, arms crossed, tongue in her cheek.
Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Like what?”
Lark tapped her chin for a moment. “I’ll decide that later.”
“Forget it.”
“Who’s chicken now?” Zac teased, finally joining the exchange.
“You too?” Tabitha groaned then stopped. “Never mind, that tracks.”
That throaty laugh of his. Like sandpaper down her spine, only in the best way possible.
She shook off her reactions and volleyed between the two sets of eyes, staring intently at her. Willing her to accept the exchange.
“Fine. Just go climb the damned thing.”
Lark squealed and clapped her hands with glee. “What do you wear? Size eight? Eight and a half?”
Tabitha nodded. “Yes, but climbing shoes are meant to be tight.”
“Duh. I know that. I’ve been freelancing for your mag for years, remember?” She snatched up the aggressively downturned shoes and squeezed her neon-manicured toes inside. “Oof, you weren’t joking. I feel like one of the stepsisters trying on the glass slipper.”
“I’ll spot ya,” Zac offered as Lark approached the wall.
“Thanks. Here goes nothing.”
A twinge of pride ribboned through Tabitha as Lark began to climb. But soon that pride morphed into surprise, which quickly settled on irritated skepticism.
“Lark,” Tabitha barked as the photographer sauntered around from the back of the boulder.
“Yes?”
“I thought you said you’d never bouldered before.”
“Hold up. I never said anything of the sort,” she said with a grin. She pushed the escaped ringlets off her sweaty forehead then removed the borrowed shoes. “You assumed. Now I have carte blanche.”
“Dammit.”
“Well done, blondie.” Zac doled out a high five before gathering the crash pads. “Ready to move to the next location?”
Lark heaved her camera bag over her shoulder. “I think we’ve done everything we needed to here. What do you think, babe?”
She’d been played. She really thought Lark had never bouldered.
She’d said she preferred to remain on the ground, but that didn’t mean she’d never tried it.
And now, the duplicitous woman had a blank check to compel Tabitha to do whatever she wanted.
Tabitha could only hope it wouldn’t have anything to do with Zac.